Insipid Colors / Perhaps a good solution

[hpman]

Hi all,

I was about to rip Friends actually

I use GKnot 0.28.5 (AviSynth 2.5.2) / DivX 5.0.5 and i'am surprised by the color.

I take some screenshots :
* With PowerDVD (and the option color : sharp)
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/firstone.jpg

* After ripping
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/ripped.jpg

* The VOB with virtualdubmod (or bsplayer)
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/vobwithvdubmod.jpg

So the colors in vob are the real colors, but i prefer the color in PowerDVD. Can i use a filter in avisynth to have the same colors that PowerDVD in my avi ?

Thanks :)



PS : In begin, i think the problem was in GKnot but after test with lenOx (Thanks again), he says me to ask you my question here :)
( http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56416 )

[Kurosu]

I think PowerDVD uses presets linked to contrast/hue/... tweaking for display. You should first check what those are, and try then tweak (http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=Tweak) or maybe HSIAdjust (http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=HSIAdjust), the important thing being the result, not how you reach it. PowerDVD result may still be hard to reach, and settings from PowerDVD are just a point where to start.

Good luck, color balance sometimes brings real visual improvements, but is often hard to set (especially when trying to process a source acquired with weird settings on that matter).

[hpman]

Thanks, i will test.

In PowerDVD, when you change the option color, you can see the new value of 5 parameters. I will try to use this :)

I will post my results later :)

[hpman]

I have tried lots of combinations with the plugin tweak:

I think tweak(-5,1.6,3,1.1) is a possible solution.

Here the two screenshots :

* With PowerDVD and the sharp color :
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/firstone.jpg

* With AviSynth and the plugin tweak :
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/afteravisynth.jpg

What do you think about the comparaison ? (After one hour, i always see same images :D)

[Kurosu]

I'm not a specialist in color balance, but I think the second shot has too much "green". However, at that point, I dunno how to correct this with just tweak.

Another point to consider might be overlay vs YV12->RGB conversion that may produce different results. Unfortunately, I agree checking by watching the video isn't easy.

[Wilbert]

Changing the hue might help. Try

tweak(0,1.6,3,1.1)

[hpman]

Originally posted by Wilbert
Changing the hue might help. Try

tweak(0,1.6,3,1.1)

I will try it.
Yesterday, i think my video was too much "red" so that's why i use hue under 0.

I will post an another screenshot later :)

Thanks for your help :cool:

[BruceL]

I have been experiencing similar problems converting a VHS capture to Dixv. Originally I started with AviSynth 2.0.8 in YUY2 color space. After reading about speed increases with AviSynth 2.5.2 in YV12 color space and Divx uses YV12 anyway, I thought I would give it a try. If I compare my YUY2 capture against my YV12 capture with no color space conversions, I get the same color dullness as shown by "hpman". At first I thought it my be a filter or script error. I get the same dull effect with just a source statement. If I add a convert to YUY2, the colors in both look the same. If I open the avi file directly in VDub again the colors are comparable in both files. I only experience the color dulling when frame serving the YV12 avi through AviSynth 2.5.2. Before starting a new thread, I was researching the forums to see if anyone had a similar experience when I came across this one. If anyone has any ideas, please post.

[Kurosu]

If I add a convert to YUY2, the colors in both look the same.

You got your culprit here: the YV12->RGB24 conversion used (in VirtualDub) to display the image is most probably bugged (or not assuming the same ranges), for instance XviD (remember the yellow vertical line on the left?). On the other side, the data encoded is perfectly fine, and it would (I think) still be present when watching the final clip, provided the same conversion is used by the decoding filter.

I think it was fixed in the CVS for XviD, though (check with newer versions of XviD).

[BruceL]

I think it was fixed in the CVS for XviD

I have not used Xvid yet so I am not familiar with it. The final Divx avi file showed the problem. That is when I first noticed it. I was viewing the files with ZoomPlayer. If you think the problem is with VDub, maybe this thread should be moved to the VDub section.

[Kurosu]

Well, it's related to this thread by the fact colors can be altered depending on which conversions the source went through. But I can't really diagnose any better where your problem could come from. I still think it's the RGB24->YV12 conversion.

[hpman]

How can i know the color of the source ? RGB24 or YV12 ?

[Kurosu]

Originally posted by hpman
How can i know the color of the source ? RGB24 or YV12 ?

MPEG-4, DVD/MPEG-2 and probably all MPEG-1 are stored internally in YV12. Some codecs like DivX3 can't export YV12 (I think the natural filter outputs RGB24).

To know what colorspace is your video file:
- when you open a file in VirtualDub (_mod), select File->File information: the colorspace may be displayed there
- otherwise, you can display all this by using Info() (http://www.avisynth.org/index.php?page=Info), which is cleaner than the previous mean

[hpman]

Wilbert >

I made new tests with screenshots :)

(I test "Field Deinterlace (no blend)" too.)
I test hue at 0 (in tweak).

* : Hue = -5 (and there is no deinterlace) :
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/hue_at_-5_and_no_denterlace.jpg

* : Hue = 0 (and there is deinterlace) :
http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/hue_at_0_and_with_denterlace.jpg

I think you were right. Hue = 0 is better, thanks :)

[MasterYoshidino]

your approach is over saturating reds i think.
im also interested in saturation adjustments for anime that is passed through 2 SmoothIQ derainbowing passes, which causes desaturation of certain colors. very old anime has these oversaturation problems you know ;)

[Wilbert]

I agree, try hue=-1.5 :)

[hpman]

Originally posted by Wilbert
I agree, try hue=-1.5 :)

I see the screenshots again, and it's too red :(
I alwas see the same images.. and i see nothing now :)

Thanks for your help all :cool:

I will try -1.5, next screenshot in 2 hour

[hpman]

Here the new screenshot with hue at -1.5 :

http://thehpman.free.fr/dvd/huge_at_-1.5.jpg

What's your opinion :confused: Thanks all !

[BruceL]

I still think it's the RGB24->YV12 conversion.
Kurosu, thank you for your help. I will look into this further.

What's your opinion Thanks all !
hpman, keep up the tweaking, it looks like your getting there.

[sh0dan]

Got bored while waiting for some video to compress. This is pretty close - the sources are in different size/quality, so a blind test is not possible. Anyway to match up the frames I used:

coloryuv(gain_y=60, cont_u=100, cont_v=180, off_u=-1)

Result (http://cultact-server.novi.dk/kpo/avisynth/matchup.jpg). Ross' face is the only thing that looks different - you might be a frame of.

I never use anything but ColorYUV these days.